For the first time there will be two Brits in the men’s wheelchair singles semi-finals at The Championships, Wimbledon, after Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid secured straight sets wins over former champions Gustavo Fernandez and Joachim Gerard on Wednesday at the All England Club.

World No.2 Hewett beat Belgian world No.3 and 2021 champion Joachim Gerard 6-3, 6-4 to earn his first victory over Gerard in five matches on grass and begin his quest to complete the career Grand Slam.

After losing out to Gerard in three sets last month at the LTA’s cinch Championships, Hewett kept his composure to close out their latest encounter and last year’s Wimbledon runner-up will now play Spain’s Martin de la Puente on Thursday for a place in this year’s final. He said:

““It was pure relief at the end – I’ve played him a few times now on grass and he’s always seemed to get the better of me. It’s one of those mental demons that you want to get over the line at some point – this was a great opportunity to do it against such a great grass court player.”

Reid put together 11 points without reply on his way to the first set against 2019 champion Fernandez and withstood all that the Argentinian could offer in a tough second set to wrap up a 6-4, 6-4 victory that earns him a semi-final against world No.1 Tokito Oda.

The winner of the inaugural men’s wheelchair singles title in 2016, world No.8 Reid, said:

“I had to dig myself out of a couple of holes in the second set, but I’m really pleased with my performance and it’s a good start to build on. This is the Slam where I come in feeling the most confident as I feel good on the grass, and the support that we get as British players gives you extra energy.”

Elsewhere, Lucy Shuker’s bid to reach a first Wimbledon women’s singles semi-final ended in a 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 loss to her doubles partner Aniek can Koot of the Netherlands.

Meanwhile, Andy Lapthorne lost out to world No.1 Niels Vink 6-1, 6-0 and Greg Slade’s Grand Slam tournament debut ended in a 6-2, 6-4 loss to Australian Heath Davidson as British hopes ended in the quad singles.

Thursday’s second day of wheelchair competition will see all five Brits in action again as the focus turns to the men’s, women’s and quad doubles semi-finals.

Photos courtesy of the LTA

Tickets are available for the world’s largest sporting event for blind and partially sighted athletes, which is making its UK debut this summer.

The 2023 International Blind Sport Federation (IBSA) World Games – sponsored by RNIB – are being held across Birmingham and other regional venues between August 18-27.

Around 1,250 blind and partially sighted athletes from 70 countries are competing in 10 sports – three of which include men’s blind football, men’s and women’s goalball, and judo which are qualification tournaments for the 2024 Paralympic Games.

Ticket details

Tickets can be purchased now via www.ibsagames2023.co.uk/tickets – which also provides more details about ticketing for each sport.

The three Paralympic qualifying sports – which are men’s blind football, men’s and women’s goalball, and judo – are the only ticketed events, with all other sports open to the public to attend for free without needing to book.

Tickets grant all-day access to one sport, providing spectators with the chance to watch multiple matches across men’s and women’s goalball, men’s and women’s blind football or judo each day.

Prices for ticketed events range between £5 for concessions, to £25 for adults. Official support workers or guides will be able to accompany a paid ticket holder for free.

Sallie Barker, Chair at British Blind Sport, who are the host federation, said: “The IBSA World Games has a crucial role to play in demonstrating to the general public the elite standards that blind and partially sighted people compete at.

“This is underlined non-more-so than the inclusion of three Paralympic qualification events at this year’s World Games.

“I would encourage as many people as possible to buy their tickets for these events, as the money will go towards helping to stage what is an historic event for the UK and sport for blind and partially sighted people across the world – and will hopefully leave a legacy by levelling the playing field for blind and partially sighted people across all areas of society.”

Detailed schedules and team draws for each sport will be released closer to the start of the tournament and announced on www.ibsagames2023.co.uk and World Games social media channels.

Birmingham is hosting the seventh edition of the World Games following a successful joint bid between British Blind Sport, Birmingham City Council, Sport Birmingham, UK Sport, and the University of Birmingham.

Photos courtesy of Goalball UK

Scottish Disability Sport (SDS) are the governing body for the sport of boccia and will be delivering a Level 1 Boccia Coach Award course between September – November 2023. The course will be a mixture of online and practical learning, with the practical sessions based in the East of Scotland.

The course will provide the knowledge and expertise required to coach players of all ages and abilities in the sport. The workshop outcomes are listed below:

• Planning and preparation
• Effective communication and demonstration skills
• How to give appropriate and constructive feedback
• Evaluating activities
• Understanding of boccia and coaching principles

The cost of the course is £250 per person.

Register online here, or for more information please contact Caroline Lyon on 0131 317 1130 or admin@scottishdisabilitysport.com.

Level 1 Boccia Coach Award

Two Scottish Boccia players will travel to Swansea, Wales to compete in the 2023 Para Sport Festival Teams & Pairs Championships on the 12/13 July.

Kayleigh Haggo will compete in a BC1/2 team with fellow Boccia UK teammates, David Smith and Reshad Saraj.

Alex Medley, who is from Perth and Kinross, will represent Scotland in a BC1/2 team with English players Zoe Barnes and Soleil Palmer. The competition is a great development opportunity for players to gain experience in the teams and pairs element of Boccia.

The competition will take place on Wednesday 12 and Thursday 13 July at the LC2 leisure Centre in Swansea. Live streaming will be available from the competition and SDS will share this information when it is available. Good luck to Kayleigh and Alex for the competition.

Scottish Boccia player, Tyler McLelland has been selected for the first ever World Boccia Youth Championships that will be held in Pavoa, Portugal from 8-14 July 2023

Tyler will compete as part of the Boccia UK team in Pavoa alongside English players Sophie Newnham and Harrison Smith where they will battle it out against the other young talented Boccia players from around the world. Tyler will take part in the individual competition which will take place between 10 and 13 July 2023.

The competition will be live streamed and can be watched on the links below:

• Youtube/Streaming – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT2JNO-JgFrR9UZeq9dvQ2w
• Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100092499756122
• Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/pcandparalisiacerebral/

The competition schedule and results will be available after the technical meeting on World Boccia – World Boccia

SDS wish Tyler and his teammates the very best of luck at the competition!

The evening will be a 45min discussion/chat on getting into Para Nordic:

• 15min presentation from Fern Cates (Snowsport Scotland/GB Snowsports Para Nordic Pathway Coach)
• 10min talk from a current pathway athlete
• 20min Q&A with attendees

Fern will discuss an intro on equipment, how to start off on snow, opportunities in Scotland, how to enter the GB Para Nordic Pathway, classification and racing.

Scottish Disability Sport was saddened to hear of the passing of its long-standing Patron, Craig Brown CBE.

Craig had been a fervent supporter of disability sport in Scotland throughout his career and was instrumental in developing inclusive practices and resources for the Scottish FA.

He was passionate about meaningful inclusion for participants and athletes with disabilities and was a frequent attendee at SDS events.

His friendship and sense of humour will be sadly missed by everyone at SDS.

Our thoughts are with Craig’s family and friends at this sad time.

For the first time in its history, para sport will be represented in the Commonwealth Youth Games this August in Trinidad. Scottish athlete Lydia Woldeselassie has been selected to compete in the T35-38 100m and long jump and is the youngest athlete in the Scottish team, only turning 14 this month. Lydia is from Glasgow and trains with Shettleston Harriers and Red Star Athletics Club.

The Youth Games was first developed in 2000 and has the aim of developing young athletes and giving them an early experience of an international multi-sport environment.

All of the athletes attending the games will be ages between 14 and 17 years old. Team Scotland will be represented in Athletics, Rugby 7s, Beach Volleyball, Triathlon, and Netball.

For more information on the athletics selections please see the article below:

Eight-Strong Track & Field Team For Trinbago 2023 – Team Scotland

Former champions Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid are drawn to meet in this year’s wheelchair tennis `semi-finals at the cinch Championships, with Friday’s first of three days of competition at The Queen’s Club featuring British players in all-four quarter-finals.

World No.2 and top seed Hewett and world No.8 Reid will play tournament debutantes Asif Abbasi and Manojkanth Somasundaram, respectively, in their opening matches before a potential semifinal. It would be the second time that the two players have met at The Queen’s Club after Hewett won their 2019 all-British men’s singles final.

Looking ahead to his 2023 challenge in the first of three wheelchair tennis draws to take place at LTA grass court tournaments over the next two weeks, Hewett said: “It’s perfect preparation for Wimbledon and we’re very grateful to be hosted here at Queen’s. We’ve got great facilities, unbelievable courts and can’t really ask for much better. I’m just trying to take it all in at the moment. I’m still learning because it’s only been a few days on the grass, so I’m hoping for a good week and for as many matches as possible, which means winning. I’ll do what I can to get to the finals and will hopefully still be playing on Sunday.”

Reid, the 2021 men’s singles winner at the Cinch Championships, missed last year’s event as he managed a wrist injury, said: “I’m really excited to be back at Queen’s this year. Obviously I was in no fit state to be playing this time last year with my wrist problems, but this is my favourite time of the year. I’ve been playing on the grass at home and I really missed not being here in 2022. I’m looking forward to a few good days of tennis here. The sun’s shining, the grass looks great and I’ve had a couple of good days of training on and feeling comfortable on the grass. I can’t wait to get going.”

While Hewett and Reid, both awarded OBEs in the King’s Birthday Honours list, are drawn in the top half of the draw, the bottom half of the draw will see fellow Brit Dermot Bailey, a former semifinalist, face second seed and defending men’s singles champion Joachim Gerard of Belgium, while 18-year-old Andrew Penney begins his second successive appearance at The Queen’s Club by taking on former world No.1 Stephane Houdet of France.

Streaming of wheelchair tennis matches at the cinch Championships will be available across LTA digital and social media channels. The doubles draw takes place on Friday.

For further news and cinch Championships updates, head to lta.org.uk or keep up to date with all the action on Twitter @the_LTA or @WChairTennisGB.

Photos courtesy of the LTA

The Scottish Paraclimbing Club have been awarded Every Body Moves’ June Club of the Month.

Based at the Edinburgh International Climbing Arena (Europe’s largest indoor climbing centre), the Scottish Cub was established in 2018 by Keith Lynch. Keith had encountered lower limb complications that subsequently required an amputation, following a sky diving incident. The club was his way of staying active and helping even more members of the disabled community access and enjoy climbing.

Full details can be found on the website here – https://everybodymoves.org.uk/ – or watch the video below.